How Kenyan Engineer Made Millions From Love messages

Dennis Makori an engineer by training graduated from Moi University in 2003 with a degree in Electrical and Communication Engineering.  

In addition to training as an engineer, he also aspired to be an entrepreneur, a dream that saw him start a software company while in his third year.  

Having trained in communications engineering, Makori and his friend Andrew Mbunya offered services around this area. In the initial stages, Makori reportedly made between Sh5,000 to Sh 10,000 a month. 

After graduation, they decided to expand their company dubbed Onfon Media with the hope of providing a wide range of services including; sending bulk messages and offering inspirational, devotional, and love quotes at a fee.

Providing these services required them to have a license from the Communications Authority of Kenya, but this proved to be a setback as they had to wait for over a year before receiving it. 

File image of Dennis Makori. [Photo: Courtesy]

"During the time we were waiting for the license, we had an office whose rent we were paying. We were incurring costs but we were not making any money," he said in a past interview. 

Their breakthrough came in 2007 when they landed a deal with Safaricom to provide premium content. According to Makori, their first cheque was for Sh44,000, adding that they made Sh500,000 at the end of that year.

As of 2012, the business had reportedly amassed over Sh400 million in revenues.

Among the several products they were offering, Makori singled out premium love messages as of their leading earners. He credited their first million to sending love messages.

He noted that over 150,000 people subscribed to get daily love quotes from their platform at a fee.

Judging by the founders' estimation and prediction, the company was meant to have hit revenue of one billion shillings by 2015.